Ten Things You Don’t Know About The Girl in the Box by Sheila Dalton

1. It takes place in Guatemala, in the 80’s, during the Civil War there
2. It tells the story of a mute Mayan girl kept in captivity in the jungle by her parents
3. I travelled to Guatemala in the eighties with a girlfriend, and kept notes
4. It took ten years to write
5. The journalist in it, Caitlin Shaughnessy, used to sing in a bar band
6. Dr. Jeremy Simpson, Caitlin’s partner, is a psychoanalyst of a type called a Self-Psychologist
7. They met in Panajachel, Guatemala
8. Inez, the Mayan girl, likes to paint and draw
9. She also can mimic the voices of others, but not speak in a normal way
10. Almost everyone in the book has secrets

***

About Sheila Dalton

Sheila Dalton was born in England and came to Canada with her family at the age of six. She studied English Language and Literature at the University of Toronto. She has worked as a barmaid, an art gallery assistant, and an independent craftsperson and artist.

Sheila was a freelance writer and editor for many years before becoming an Adult Services Librarian for the Toronto Public Library. She lives in Newmarket, Ontario with her husband and two cats. She has written over ten books, including a collection of adult poetry, three children’s picture books, a literary novel, and a YA mystery which was shortlisted for a major Canadian crime writer’s award, the Arthur Ellis.